MOSUL, Iraq, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- Two Iraqi politicians were shot dead and a third was injured by gunmen in the volatile city of Mosul, a local police source said on Thursday.

"Unknown armed men gunned down Abdul Kareem al-Sharabi, a key figure in the National Dialogue Front, a main Sunni secular political party," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attack took place before Thursday noon near the victim's house in the 17th of July neighborhood in western Mosul, the source said.

Late on Wednesday, gunmen shot dead Ahmed Fathi, a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, as he was leaving a mosque in western Mosul, the source added.

Fathi's party is a major Sunni political party in Iraq, headed by Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi.

A third politician, Akram Khalaf, was seriously wounded in his chest and shoulder on Thursday afternoon when gunmen opened fire on him at the commercial area of Sarej Khana in central Mosul, the source said.

Also in the day, a car bomb parking on a road at the Baath neighborhood in eastern Mosul, detonated near a passing police patrol, killing four people and wounding three others, including a police officer, the police said.

Nineveh province, with its capital city of Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, is said to be one of the last strongholds of al-Qaida fighters in the war-torn country.